Richt isn’t commanding Georgia players’ respect or attention

UGA players don’t respect their moms and dads why the hell would they respect Richt? The type of students Richt is getting are the same type of students in High School that threaten their Teachers.
Look at Richt he is getting a lil fat. Maybe he is the strength & conditioning coach and that is the problem.

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Yep.

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Much as I hate to say it, Jeff, this article was dead-on. I’m a Georgia fan and have been since I was old enough to walk — and, further, I have TREMENDOUS respect for Coach Richt as a person — but I have flinched for several months now as the fanbase have called for the heads of coordinators, knowing full well that the gorilla in the closet is Richt himself.

We’ve still got time to turn around the season, but Georgia’s expected standards for excellence go well beyond 7-5 seasons. This is a team that, at the very least, is supposed to be in the conversation for SEC title hopes year in and out, and right now, I’m honestly wondering if we’re going to lose 9 games this season, which would be a terrible blow for a coach that saw so many off-field incidents this past offseason leading into 2010’s football campaign. If Georgia does go something like 3-9 or 4-8, the guy with such a strong winning percentage for his career might be out of a job.

Would be a surreal sight in Athens to see someone else walking the sidelines next year…

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Jeff – well said. We suck because we are allowed to suck!

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…and for those who want to go the other direction and disrespect Coach Richt as a man or a coach, I’m not sure I could like someone who didn’t like Mark Richt. And that’s about the highest compliment someone could pay an individual, I think. Our ball coach is a heck of a human being, through and through.

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I HATE THE BULLDOGS, GOD I WANT IT TO HURT

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Everybody likes Richt, thats not the point.

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I think you may have been out of line with the mission trip comment

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Jeff,
I couldn’t disagree more. Georgia has a lot of problems right now, Richt’s leadership of his players isn’t one of them. The players haven’t quit or given up. If nothing else, they are playing hard a full 60 minutes every game. The Dawgs just aren’t very good. You could write a series of articles for the rest of the season on why and still have more to write when it’s over. Richt’s leadership in his ability to manage a staff could be called into question, no doubt. But for the players, I haven’t seen the disrespect or lack of effort that would come from not believing in their head coach. Richt didn’t have “fire” on the sideline when he was winning in the early 2000s. He was the stoic ship captain, always in control. He was applauded for that. The fact that he has maintained his demeanor in the face of success and adversity provides consistency – it lets the players know that he isn’t panicing.

I’m not saying he shouldn’t be held accountable. The program has slipped dramatically in just two years, and he should have to answer to that at the season’s end. I don’t envy McGarity’s position and the decisions he has to make with less than a year on the job. But I strongly disagree that Richt is not a good leader.

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I don’t think it has anything to do with Football not being important.

He made some poor decisions on some linemen both offense and defense, they’ve had very average linebackers and he hired the wrong guys to replace guys that were working well.

It’s not like he forgot how to be a good coach, he simply hired the wrong guys and they got thin or guys just didn’t work out in a lot of key positions. Much of the failures do lie in not being able to get the most out of the players they have…that comes from making the wrong decisions on who to hire. The coaching staff that he’s had for the last several years just wasn’t up to par.

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GA FANS ARE LIKE COCKROACHES, TURN ON THE LIGHTS AND THEY SCATTER…….I HAVE BEEN RIDING AROUND THE STATE FOR OVER TWO WEEKS LOOKING FOR AROGGANT GA FANS FLYING THEIR FLAGS ON CARS, DECALS, TIRE COVERS ETC….. NONE TO BE FOUND…..COULD THIS ALL BE KARMA FOR THE GA PLAYER PLANTING THE BULLDOG FLAG INTO THE MIDDLE OF GRANT FIELD LAST NOV? JUST SAYING………BY THE WAY, GOD I WANT IT TO HURT

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Break out the $$ and bring me Will Muschamp!!

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Stop with the they are KIDS. Hell they can VOTE. Damn they can carry a M-16 and serve, fight, and die for the US. The difference is the Disciplineof UGA KIDS.

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Jeff I have been saying for 2 yrs now that it was time for Richt to go! Even when they went to the Sugar Bowl against Hawaii I was saying they needed to make a change, remember the absolute blow out to Tennessee that year and the loss to South Carolina? Richt’s teams do not seem to have the edge of the other great teams and under Richt always lead the nation in penalties. The arrests are another issue all together, it is my belief that these kids are just not afraid of what will happen to them if they get in trouble. Now we are 5 games into a season and each game this teams comes out looking like they have no clue of the game plan. It seems to get worse each week, the time has come to find a new coach. That being said, I will support the program each week and hold out hope but it sure it hetting hard to watch!

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Damon would do waht all the UGA coaches are doing! Pleading NOT QUILTY to how is at fault.

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I keep hearing “But, but ….he’s a great man” So what? This is about coaching in the SEC & he is paid a ridiculous amount of money to do that. Its too obvious he’s more concerned with being a Bible thumper than coaching the dawgs. Richt, take your millions & go start some Bible commune in Jackson county & resign.

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You nailed it. This didn’t start this season. It started before we had to fabricate enthusiasm in the Gator endzone. Vince Dooley didn’t try to “rah rah” players, he busted their butts and benched them when they screwed up. His players didn’t necessarily like him, but they respected him. And they played hard for him. Richt is a really nice guy. And there are lots of places in this world for really nice guys. Head coach of UGA football isn’t one of them.

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To those wanting him gone so quickly, what were your thoughts on him prior to last season?

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Please keep Richt.

You got rid of your superstar, Willie and you can`t have Kirby. He is too smart for the cesspool in Athens.

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Richt needs to thank God that UGA doesn’t play ” ALABAMA ” this year.

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I’ll go ahead and put my two cents in if there is going to be a coaching change. Dan Mullin as Head coach and Manny Diaz as Defensive Co-ordinator.

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Cofan. You need to explain a little better than what you just put up on your last post !

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I for one am glad you put it on paper Jeff. All this needed to be said.

Finish the Drill?—right — we can’t even seem to finish one play.

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Lose this Cuff kid..he’s just freaking awful! I think he’d have a tought ime breaking Sprayberry’s line up! The penalties? This guy is the poster child for the ills….Richt? If I had a coach that all he could do after a bad play or missed assignment would be to run his fingers through his thinning hair, I’d probably walk all over him too! You don’t have to be a Woody Hayes, but good lord man, show us you care…hey wait a minute! Why care anymore when you’re financially comfortable for probably the rest of your days?

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Lots of problems but practices, especially spring, are clearly not tough enough. That falls on Richt. He’s too worried about injuries but they are getting hurt anyway. “Thud” against the scouts ain’t cuttin’ it. This started with the easy blowout against an inept Hawaii team. Coaches and team read the hype during 08 offseason and everything went soft. Only Richt knows if he is distracted/disinterested.

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If CMR is fired it will be one of the biggest mistakes in UGA football history. Demoralizing to say the least. We will lose a fine coach and a great man if we lose CMR. Time to for all good fans to come to the defense of our team and our coach.

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Oh, and by the way, I am a really nice man. Can I have a multi-million dollar contract please?

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You could not have said it better bugsquacher –It’s nothing personal–but as any manger knows–if you do not perform–you get the boot.

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I think Mark R is a quality human being. I said years ago, it was hard to me to dislike UGA because of Richt. The man has been a quality coach and I think UGA could do ALOT worse without him.

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UGA 10 Fulmer Cup winner, 09 not ranked, 08 #7, 07 #9 tied, 06 #9 tied. Sounds like UGA is been headed in the wron direction for a few years now.

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Jeff, you are right……..

facilities…..check
funds…..check
fan/booster support……check
player talent……check.

hmmmmm…… whats left?

coaches…… this is the problem…….

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Laugh it up fuzzball–we’ll see your “triple threat” stuff soon enough.

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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bertromavich Reibold, Jeff Schultz. Jeff Schultz said: Georgia’s players aren’t following leader, and that’s on Richt http://bit.ly/cpstP1 [...]

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Jeff,

You’re spot on about the respect and discipline thing. At Bama Saban had quite a mess to clean up with 7 players arrested his first year. He booted most of them and now regularly boots players just for breaking team rules let alone getting arrested. The players have a sense of respect bordering on fear which is a good thing. Its no coincidence that we’re having a good run on the field while not having had a player arrested in 14 months. That discipline is the same on and off the field and that seems to be what Georgia is missing.

Just as Bama plays football with few turnovers, few mistakes, not beating ourselves, having no player arrests Georgia is the exact opposite- multiple player arrests on a team that beats itself with untimely penalties, turnovers, I believe last year Georgia was 111th and 119th in the nation in turnover margin and penalties. And at the same time this year they’ve sewn up the Fulmer cup.

The Bama players not only respect their coach but they flat out fear Saban. Its time Richt instilled a little bit of fear into his team.

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Fire CMR and do him a favor. Then he can get hired in the WAC, do have the work yet win the conference year after year. Maybe even have a 16, 17 ,18 game winning streak. Maybe even be discussed as a BCS buster. I’m not being facetious… very serious.

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Like the McDonald’s ad…….”Lovin it!”

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I’m a Tech man, and I never thought I’d hear myself say it, but….I don’t wish any more bad fortune on the Dawgs. My Gator friends know: Georgia is a dangerous team. I can’t promise that Y’all will win 8 games, but it could happen. Meantime, before you run off a successful coach like CMR, better make sure what’s out there. It could be worse.

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Good post Jeff. I support Richt more than most Dawg fans (that blog anyways). But this is hard to argue with. It’s the consistancey with how this team has been carrying itself, how it’s been playing on the field, how they get arrested over the stupidest stuff that has Richt’s job in jeapordy.

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Good article Jeff

I think if the dawgs finish with a respectable record (not likely) that BOOBOO gets fired and Richt gets a pass. If they finish with a pathetic record of 2 or 3 wins then Richt and his wagon of goofs are outa here.

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Blame the poor, needy people of Honduras. If they would get their acts together, then CMR could stay here and obsess about football.

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Really? Richt isn’t a good coach and can’t win in the SEC. He has won, two SEC championships in the 10 years here. Bad luck kept him out of the natl championship game with other teams going undefeated. Florida made it to a natl championship with two losses, and Georgia couldn’t get to a game with only one. Just plain bad luck and the result of no playoff. I agree the standards seem to have slipped and that a change might be needed. Just know, if we cut ties at the end of the season, we’ll lose most of a pretty good recruiting class since many have said they will go elsewhere if there are wholesale coaching changes. Change may be needed, but we need more playmakers and with his record and what he’s done for this university Coach Richt deserves his shot. I would argue he represents his school and represents better as a person better than both Meyer and Saban. If nothing changes then next year it’ll be time to pull the plug…but to insult a great man and a proven coach is just plain ignorance and anyone jumping off the bandwagon, please don’t let the dust choke you on the way off. Go Dawgs!

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5150 POAD – You need to get a life and/or a job. It’s obvious you dislike UGA. We get it. The least you could do is add something constructive to this conversations.. Sheesh.

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It’s about leadership Jeff? Ok.

How bout 90 wins in 9 seasons, 1 of 7 coaches in history to do that? How about a 76% wining percentage in the SEC? How about 6, top 10 finishes? How about Richt sending more guys to the NFL than Meyer or Saban? How about Georgia has more Captains in the NFL right now than any other college? How about 8 top 10 recruting classes of followers? How about the #7 ranked recruiting class right now on Scout? Wanna talk leadership?

The hypothetical theoretical journalist.

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Jeff,
Your suggestion seemed to be that because of his mission trips that his coaching has been negatively impacted. Forgive me if I misunderstood. If that was your point my question to you is, “how do you know that?” There is a lot more to coaching than X’s and O’s. UGA needs not only a good coach but a great man. We have that in CMR. Alabama has a great coach (wins) but is he a great man? I don’t know. CMR needs to do his job, no doubt about that but he also has a life–a family, convictions that must be lived out. What place should those things have in his life? The Richt family are an example to all. They have dealt with cancer, adopted children from difficult situations etc. and etc. No, that is not enough to keep him as coach–but it sure helps. Add to that-the fact that he is young, experienced and has a proven track record and AT LEAST he has earned some more time–at least another season to get the train back on the tracks. Thanks Jeff.

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Coordinators are a bigger part of things than people like to think. Many long-standing coaches have to deal with losing coordinators and drop offs in teams until they find good replacements. Its happening now at Florida. Their offense has not been the same since Dan Mullen left. LSU’s recent decline is in no small part tied to the loss of Jimbo Fisher and Bo Pelini. UT’s offense has not looked the same when David Cutcliffe is not running it.

The same is happening at UGA. The Defense has not been the same since Van Gorder left, and the offense has looked less prepared without Richt running it. Richt just needs to get a better OC. He has deserved that much.

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We will win 2-3 more games this year. I think Dr. Adams and McGarity, based on the past body of work will allow him back next year. That will be the problem. You can’t make it a ultimatum and let it get out, that kills recruiting. I think Bobo will be demoted, not fired. I think Mark will take over OC duties. Next years team looks like it will be a challenge. Two best receivers gone. Less experience ob the Ol and the defense has no stars I can see. New attitude next year still translates to 6-8 wins……maybe……………I fear it’s over and the guys calling the shot won’t do it.

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It put things in perspective Sat. when Alabama &Florida were on the national stage,primetime on CBS while GA was out losing to a pitiful team in the middle of nowhere, untelevised and insignificant.Texas and Florida are the only 2 states that have as much or more high school football talent as GA.How long are the UGA administration,fan base, and alumni going to sit back and accept mediocrity from this program?Alabama and Florida sure as Hell dont and that is why they have multiple national championships and we still cling to 1980.Georgia has the potential to be as consistently good as any program in the country but that wont happen until UGA and supporters are sick of this underachieving, take the bull by the horns,hire the BEST coaches and make this program reach its potential.

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Jeff Schultz:

Where did this comment come from?
“There’s no question Richt wants to win. But he has a lot more things in his life now, like taking mission trips to Honduras. It doesn’t mean football isn’t important to him. Anybody who has seen him after losses knows otherwise. But college football coaching, particularly in the SEC, has become a 24/7/365 job.”

I’ve long thought your anti-Richt rants were based on dislike for Richt’s Christianity, but that shot was really below the belt.

“Mission trips to Honduras”???

I can’t believe i just read that.

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Part of me says fire everyone. Part of me thinks that every school has bad years every now and then, and I want to see if this staff can right the wrongs not only this year but next year as well. If after next year, there’s still no improvement, then yes, fire them all. But so far it’s been ugly and I’ve lost faith in everyone.
I think about how quick TN fans were to axe Fulmer after he had brought so much to their organization after they called for Majors’ head. Where does the cycle end? Eventually every coach/team is gonna lose ball games. Even Saban, believe it or not has those days coming and I assure you AL fans will be parking the moving van in his driveway in a hurry.

But I’ll say this about this season too, Shreveport looks pretty good to me right now!

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Jason
are there things that influence the path of atoms? Richts job is to influence the free will of his players to follow his example better than the players are.

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See you Tech boys in the bushes in Piedmont Park this weekend!

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I don’t care if we ever win a game. Richt is spreading the word of God to his players, the campus, and the state of Georgia! That alone is worth millions. He is God’s spokesman and we love him.

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I, too am upset that the Bulldogs are not playing as well as they should, but I in no way am going to blame Mark Richt for all of the losses. Why is everyone ready to crucify the man when Bobo, the new defensive coach, and the players themselves are also to blame. I only wish that Richt would go back to what helped to make him so successful at Florida State. Calling the plays himself. He is a quaterback coach so I say he needs to make that change and be given a chance to turn the rest of the season around. How can anyone call themselves football fans if all you want to do when things don’t go your way is fire the coach? You overlook all the good he has done since being with the team and fault him for everything. Truly a shame that any GA fan would cry out for Richt to be fired over one bad season. Rome wasn’t built in a day folks. I will always support GA no matter their record, though yes now I have to support the Alabama Crimson Tide to repeat their winning ways since we will not be in the running. That is ok though because I know how to be a good sport about things and not judge.

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Dawg Fud no he would not. He would chuckle and say maybe he is but he is working on it. You know richt enough to know he will not be mean much less actually hit somebody and that is the reason this whole discussion is happening.

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Benjamin- Been mulling over your” must remember these are just kids”comment. Countless thousands who rest from Flanders to Normandy to Bagdad would likely disagree.

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@ soCAL – it must have gotten lost in my fury of capital letters, but I’m not advocating for blind followers (note the sheep part). But you have to stand in their and deliver when you need to. Early in the game, mid-way, and late. EVEN after the game when the world is on a roller coaster and looking for dissention in the ranks! You must hold the line! Demand excellence – yes! Sound like a wheenie on a message board – NO! If you do that, then you are a turn coat who has no right to stand and be counted among the DAWG NATION! IMO…

UNLEASH THE JUNKYARD DAWG!!!!!!!!

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Why did Bobo keep running Carlton Thomas up the middle even after King and Ealey kept tearing off long runs.

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One who tries to compare to Dooleys teams… that they were tougher and worked harder….. I call BS. Richt’s record is better that Dooleys, even with hershal for 3 years. ….Its about the W’s…

Dooleys teams were before the drinking age was raised to 21 and all of the scrutiny of kids on the I-net and M.A.D. Did the kids go out and have a food time… Hell yes …. Did kids do boneheaded thins off the field…. Absolutely …. Different times.

But I can tell you that if you showed up at a practice and were hungover and not focused, he ran your a$$ off. You paid for it. Now you pay for it with a record.

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We must be honest about Mark Richt’s career at Georgia.

And to be honest we need to understand who was truly responsible for Mark Richt’s success as a head coach at Georgia.

The man responsible for Mark Richt’s success at Georgia is not Mark Richt. It’s Brian Van Gorder.

Follow my logic. When Brian Van Gorder left the Bulldogs, he did so under very strange circumstances. In the last few years it came to light that he left because Michael Adams refused to pay him what BVG felt he, as Broyles Award winning DC, was worth, and even worse, that Richt didn’t back him in request to be properly compensated. Why would Richt back his DC? Maybe because Richt wanted his former college roommate to be DC? Maybe? That is conjecture on my part. What we do know is, Adams didn’t pay BVG a fair contract, so he left. And then Richt promoted his good friend and former failed defensive coordinator to the position of Georgia’s DC.

Georgia DID win the SEC in 2005, with all of the BVG coached players on defense, but some subtle things began to change. The secondary exclusively began playing zone coverage, with no man coverage mixed in. Corners playing 10 yards off the line. An even more subtle change happened to the team: sideline discipline became an issue. How many times did we see Georgia get sideline warnings? That never happened with BVG patrolling the sideline.

Then the first obvious harbinger of things to come: being run out of the building by WVU in the first half of the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldog defense looked disjointed, like they weren’t properly prepared by coaches to play the game.

2006 continued the trends seen in 2005. The defense started giving up yards and points at levels not seen at Georgia… ever. This was made worse by Richt waffling on the QB situation for weeks. Sideline discipline continued to be poor. Players were seen acting unprofessional on the sideline, dancing and acting foolish, not at all focused on the task at hand. This was a team now run by Richt and Martinez.

2007 saw a head-scratching blow out by Tennessee because Georgia’s DC was unable or unwilling to adapt his defense to what was happening on the field. It saw a loss to SC that cost the Dawgs a shot at the MNC because the defense couldn’t stop the runs that everyone knew was coming. Discipline on the field was becoming a problem. Stupid penalties lengthened drives. But the Bulldogs got hot at the right time. Why? Because Marcus Howard, the last player coached under Brian Van Gorder, decided to play with discipline and unmitigated want-to, and he single-handedly saved Georgia’s season. Mark Richt embarrassed himself and the program by telling his team to commit a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The dancing and carrying on on the sidelines, the abject indiscipline and lack of focus on the sideline was reaching a fever pitch.

2008 began with an embarrassing string of arrests that would make Urban Meyer blush. Arrests that NEVER happened while BVG was the voice of discipline at Georgia. Nine arrests over the summer. NINE. The team came out, ranked number one, but by now, the unprofessionalism fostered by lackadaisical approach to discipline fostered by Richt and Martinez had so infested the team. The inmates now ran the asylum. For the FOURTH straight season under Martinez, Georgia gave up more points and more yards per game than the year before, yet Richt refused to even DISCUSS Martinez’s job status. He refused to hold Martinez accountable, just like Martinez and Richt were not holding their players accountable on and off the field. Personal foul penalties became rampant this season at UGA. Hitting the QB late. Hitting out of bounds late. Georgia was now the most penalizing team in the SEC. And the inexplicable blow outs continued.

2009 brought with it what was thought to be rock bottom. More arrests over the summer. Not nine, but more arrests still. That undisciplined nature of the team showed itself on the field yet again. This time, Georgia just didn’t lead the SEC in penalties, it was the second-worst penalized team in ALL of college football!!! And still, the players were allowed to dance and act foolish on the sideline, showing no respect for the game or for their coaches or for the fans. For the FIFTH straight year, Georgia gave up more yards and points per game than the year before, a run of defensive ineptitude that stands alone in Georgia’s once-proud defensive history. Willie Martinez set records for his defense. Finally, Richt relented, firing Martinez. The fact is… HE SHOULD HAVE NEVER PROMOTED MARTINEZ IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Now this summer, with TEN ARRESTS. A new DC comes in, but he can’t bring discipline to where the inmates run the asylum. Todd Grantham has tried. We’ve seen him yell. Saw it in the Spring Game. Saw it in the first game. Haven’t seen it again. Why? Because Grantham knows this is a losing proposition. He sees what Mark Richt has wrought and knows he has no chance. No chance at all.

Look at the choices and decisions made by Mark Richt over the last five-plus years of this program without the name “Mark Richt” attatched to the choices decisions, and ask yourselves, would you HONESTLY want this man to run the program? His name is blurring the reality of the situation HE has placed OUR program in.

He appears to have passive-aggresively backed Martinez over BVG as the DC by not backing BVG’s request to be fairly compensated.

He allowed his team to become an undisciplined mess on the sidelines during games. This spilled over into the games themselves, and then after the games with the embarrassing arrests.

He continued to defend the indefensible Soft Willie Martinez, putting his personal relationship with this man over the FACTS piling up about just how badly Martinez was ruining the defense and the program.

Think about that. Richt put his friendship with Martinez FIRST. BEFORE THE TEAM.

And THAT’S the man y’all want as the head coach? Because of what he did six years ago?

Richt doesn’t hold his players accountable. He doesn’t hold his coaches accountable.

It’s about damn time we and Greg McGarrity and Michael Adams hold RICHT accountable.

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@Don’t get it – why did Bobo take an entire quarter to realize Green was back on the field? Why did Bobo not throw to Green once on the final drive? Why are Chapas and Charles not bigger parts of the game plan? In general, why does Bobo constantly ignore what is working on the field for pre-rendered game plans?

The questions are endless on this point.

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Jeff:

Have you ever coached any team in your life? Perhaps a college football team, in the SEC, for 25 seasons?

Or do you just like to theorize and deal with life at only the conceptual abstract level, never having the courage to take action? Journalist live in fear of action, Richt’s their enemy because he’s the anti-theorist.

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Jeff, these are good observations and a great article, and I apologize for accusing you of having Cynthia Tucker write your blogs. If anyone needs proof, go back and watch his games for the first six years…his passion and the fire from his players. I think it began changing in our last game with Bama, and is getting progressively worse.

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@76-DAWG (and perhaps soCAL dawg again) – please read my last post but to close out my comments (as I do have a job to get back to…) Make your displeasure known to those whom it matters. Email McGarity, Pres. Adams, CMR or whomever. Don’t send as big a donation (or none at all), but don’t air your grievances on these pointless blogs at the detriment of the program. NOTHING GOOD COMES FROM IT! To think recruits (or other coaches who want to use this as fodder to recruit against us) don’t read this stuff is naive and COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE.

But to constantly seek change with every up and down cycle is EXTREMELY short-sided! Need another example – see the DOW JONES for the last 50 years!

I’m done… oh wait…

UNLEASH THE JUNKYARD DAWG! GATA!

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@UGABugKiller – I have been saying all along that Richt’s mistake has been turning the coordinator jobs over to Bobo and Martinez. Losing Van Gorder would have been OK if Richt had gone out and gotten a better coordinator. At least someone with experience. The drop off of the defense is a huge factor in the last couple of years. I think Grantham has them back on the right track, but he has to wash the soft zone mentality first.

The same is happening on offense with Bobo taking over for Richt. Richt needs to get someone at OC that has the experience to use the talent properly and exploit perceived weaknesses in the defense, not just show up with a pre-determined game plan that will be run regardless.

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Bama went through a similar situation with Mike Shula. Shula was brought in after the Mike Price debacle mostly to help clean up the UA image with a secondary hope that he could be a good head coach, even though he had only been an assistant to that point. I think Shula and Richt both have character beyond reproach and were very good assistant coaches but Shula seemed to lack that certain intangible that makes someone a great head coach.

A lot has been said about Richt’s demeanor on the sidelines and that if he is not breathing fire every second that he cannot be a successful head coach. Granted, Nick Saban looked like someone whizzed in his Cheerios even though Bama was up 24-3 against Florida and he has certainly brought success back to the Capstone; but I also think people like Tom Landry, Don Shula and Jim Tressel have been able to produce championship results without having to reach a certain quota of smashed headsets per game. Therefore, it’s not just sideline demeanor that is the measuring stick of a great head coach.

With that said, an excellent article was written when rumors were swirling about Mike Shula being fired. I can’t remember the author or I would be glad to give credit, but the message was that the Bama AD needed to make a decision as to whether or not Mike Shula was the guy to lead Bama football back to the winning standards and if Shula wasn’t the man then they needed to cut bait and offer up the proper lure to get the big fish that would get the job done. I’m not going to state my opinion as to whether Richt should stay or go, but UGA just hired a very good AD and I think his first major decision at the end of the season is to make the determination that either Richt is the man to do the job or not. One of the determining factors would be for Richt to explain to McGarity his detailed plan to get UGA football back on track. If McGarity is satisfied with the plan then he needs to throw his full support behind Richt so that high school recruits have a sense of security about who will be in charge the next year. Now, if Richt is not the man, then it needs to be announced immediately after season end and before a bowl game if UGA qualifies for a bowl game this year. That way, McGarity can get his list of candidates together, raid the UGA Athletic Club coffers and reel in the big fish.

Dawg Nation may be divided in their opinion of Richt and like all passionate SEC football fans the blogs will continue to light up the rest of the season. I know it’s tough to do but Bama fans were in the same position a few years ago and my advice is that you have a competent AD so let him do his job after the season is over and the pendulum will eventually swing the other way.

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UGA has been declining ever sense he turned the team over to his coordinators. A few years ago he decided to delegate the control of the team to his coordinators so he could concentrate on other things. Saban ,Spurrier and Myers would even think about delegating the decisions to their coordinators.
CMR needs to take control of the play calling and since defense is not his strength let Grantham do his job.

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Thank you Jeff for telling it like it is!

I will always support UGA, but my loyalty lies with the University, not with ONE man! If Richt keeps on failing us (and yes he’s ultimately responsible) then he should be held accountable. I don’t think he’s forgotten how to coach, but I do think all the things you said are true now. He’s become a “figure head” like Bobby Bowden and doesn’t have impact on the plays on either side, leaves everything to his coordinators. You see where that’s led us now to the bottom of the SEC. A change is needed in Athens to shake up the culture. A new face who has STRICT control of the program is needed!!! As bad as things have been so far, it could get a lot worst. I’m willing to give Richt this season like you said, it’s too early to be firing people right now…but if he DOES NOT, then he must be held responsible.

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This kind of thing tends to happen after 9 or 10 years. It’s probably time to get some new blood. In the mean time, the rest of us will sit back and enjoy. I’m having a great season so far. War Eagle!!

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Jeff, great article. I couldn’t agree more. I do believe that allowing Richt another year is just prolonging the agony. I love the guy too, but a fresh start may be good for him as well. There are plenty of options, but many aren’t proven such as Smart or Muschamp. I think Dan Mullen is going to be a great coach. It’s time for a new direction.

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I liken people who don’t want a change in Athens as to people who don’t follow politics who Voted for Obama who are now saying WTF.

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Its time for UGA to make the hard decision and leave the SEC and join the ACC if the ACC would let them. This would allow UGA to focus on the being a leading University first and a football school second.

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Some of you Georgia “fans” remind me of all the failed hard-a$$ CEOs we have running so many corporations. The solution is always to fire somebody—anybody. And then corporate management becomes cut-throat and strictly Theory X—betray everybody and trust nobody. And when that doesn’t work and the company has acquired a horrendous reputation with the public, the next solution is to change the corporate name to get rid of the public’s memory of the failure—e.g., Blackwater becomes Xe.

A lot of players and certainly UGA ought to be grateful you’re not running the show. You’ve invested your ego and testosterone in winning at all costs, forgetting altogether that these are college kids. Some of those kids are having to grow up. I wish you would.

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John @1:25…………Interesting post….and a good one……………When 10-20 thousand people start feeling that way ( season ticket holders), that’s when people stand up and take notice, regardless if Mark is a good man or Bobo has 5 kids to feed

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So if Carlton Thomas fumbles on Saturday are we going to go without running backs for the rest of the year. Which in itself is funny because if Carlton Thomas is your starting running back you have serious issues.

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Neither Bama nor LSU is on the schedule.

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I have also been driving all over the state looking for someone that would actually talk to me but I’m such a loser the only people who will talk to me are online..

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Counting Blessings—Bama nor LSU are on the schedule but Arkansas and Miss St are…and we lost both. I’d rather play Bama and LSU when we’re down.

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I am a Dawg Fan and will root for the team for the rest of the year win or lose. I do not have season tickets so I do not have a real financial investment in the team. I do have an emotional investment for over 30 years and feel like the program is not going to correct itself under CMR. If this were a one or second down year under CMR it would be different, but 2006, 2008, 2009 and now 2010 appear to be 4/5 years off. 2008 was 10-3 with horrible losses to Alabama, Florida and GT. I feel that CMR had a good 5 year run but for whatever reason peaked and now it is too late to get back. If we keep him 1 more year recruiting will be terrible since most recruits will assume he gets fired after next year. Hopefully, CMR will do the honorable thing and resign and negotiate a buyout which would be the best for all parties.

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dawgster… get a frakking life, you over-emotional d-bag.

What Jeff was saying, obvious to everyone else, is that while Saban and Meyer and whomever else might possibly want to do the charitable acts Richt does, like the mission trips, they don’t.

WHY?

Because they are paid millions of dollars to win championships. Not build a school in Central America.

So instead, Saban and Meyer act charitably by giving money, not time.

Because they have their priorities in line with their job expectations.

Richt does not.

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UGA Bugkiller……I think you are spot on. Good read on what has transpired.

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Wait until 2012. I can take over the coaching position then. I will bring some real hope and change to the program.

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“Is Richt what’s wrong with UGA?”

Yeah! Duh?

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Richt’s sideline demeanor hasn’t changed in 10 years…and he did quite well for many years.
Not sure that’s the problem…and not sure what is.
Collectively, he does have too many punks on the team who show no respect for the job he and the other coaches are trying to do.
I do believe that too many players have received hand slaps and should have been dismissed from the team when they got off course.
maybe times have changed but it wasn’t that long ago that we were winning and we were the team everyone dreaded to play.

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Richt brought fsu’s model to athens (recruit anyone with a pulse who can win, coach dirty when needed, cover up crimes/arrests, act like a preacher…) and it didn’t translate. Bowden’s model died 10 years ago but richt kept using it. Maybe it’s time for another endzone taunting dance to get the team to show “emotion!”

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Everyone says who would you replace him with. I’m not sure but I would start with the same Atlanta firm that brought us the little know Mark Fox, the best coach at UGA. (for all of you who think that football is the only sport played at UGA he is the basketball coach)

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Have the team wear red panties with black helments and then have them do a thug dance in the end zone. That should fix things.

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Jeff are you doing the live blog from the UGA game? If you are there you need to try to get a photo of Barbara Dooley in her Orange Outfit.

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UgaBugkiller…i normally wouldn’t respond to someone that would say the things you just did about me…but i will…it takes alot of class to call someone a d-bag…i will promise you one thing you wouldn’t say it to my face…but sit behind your little computer and have at it…thats all the guts you probably have…If you think his comments are fine about the mission trip then that says wonders about you…doesn’t it little man…and when i say little man, i mean little man…so if you feel good about calling me a d-bag then go ahead…I’m a pretty good size man and i can take pretty much any kind of hit…I won’t respond to you anymore…so say whatever you like…i don’t mind having differences of opinion with people on here, but i try to be respectful and i don’t attack them personnally as you did me…Also, i still stand behind my comments regarding Jeff’s article…i thought he went too far with the mission trip remarks….

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MaGarity and Adams need to scour the U.S., spend whatever is needed and find the next Nick Saban, the best coach in America by far. Coaches I would be looking at—money is no object.

Oregon
Utah
Boise St.

But, UGA will probably go cheap and hire an unproven kirby smart from alabama and pay him a couple of mil.

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UGA has problems since before the 2008 GT game. I am a GT grad, and we have been to the GT/UGA game every year for over 30 years. Two years ago was the very first time that I have attended that game where the UGA players were not concerned if they won the game or lost it. Always before, the attitude on both teams is that they give it their all, and play to win, but the UGA players on that afternoon looked as if they didn’t care. While the GT players who were on the sidelines watching the game, were up, animated, even dancing on the sidelines the whole game, the UGA players that weren’t playing were looking up into the stands, not the game, as if it meant nothing to them. That is coaching, just as you have stated, the players have no fire and no TEAM about them, and haven’t since that day. Yes, they geat GT last year at GT, but even at that game, there was still that same attitude among the players who weren’t playing along th sidelines.

We live in Marietta, and we think UGA should hire Coach Friday, to be their disciplinarian. It could be that Mark cannot relate to the type players he recruits, and he needs coach Friday who can relate. Just a thought.

Also, the Damon Evans fiasco hasn’t helped, you need to put some of the blame on the top where it belongs. When your athletic director doesn’t set the example, where are you?

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Good article. The issue is there’s been little accountability for actions on or off the field in the past and Richt is reaping what he sowed. He’s finally starting to lay down the hammer on some of the kids for off the field issues, but he’s starting too late. Plus, he’s has got to have some more accountability for in game actions or inactions. Sure the RB was benched for fumbling/poor blocking and the league made the center sit for a half for clipping, but it is inconsistent. See Vance Cuff’s performance…gives up a big play and has 3 personal foul penalties…one of which allowed Colorado the opportunity for the game winning touchdown. Why is he in the game still? Put his butt on the bench in the game and all/part of the next game. That sends a clear message to players that you better bring it mentally each and every week or somebody will be taking your job on the field.

Ban the players from scooters for a month when somebody screws up riding a scooter. Put in a strict curfew when somebody gets busted for underage drinking. Make the punishment team wide to get peer pressure to help with corrective behavior.

In short, stop trying to be the best friend of the players…time to be the parent. It’s tough love and hard to do for kids you care about deeply, but it teaches the lessons that need to be taught and will help them in the long run.

Unfortunately, attitudes don’t change overnight…so even with corrective action it may take time to see the benefits. And it may cost us games while we wait to see if he can correct the issues.

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Is it Still a Party In The UGA??

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I think the “mission trips to Honduras” is pretty low. CMR is a great man AND great coach. He has taken this program to a new level, that is why this is so hard right now. UGA has not been in this position in 10 years. CMR got us to expect more. One bad season does not equal a bad coach. GO DAWGS!!!

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Hey Ray – No. Fire Richt Now!

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Jason you really don’t like Schultz but you are reading his stuff and posting about it. I guess you are the fool for getting Jeff more hits.
Jeff give’um hell. Just you better never write anything bad about my TEAM. heheheheh.

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I just lost my lunch ….. I got a mental image of Barn with her thong and push up! Of course Herschel likes it so that’s what matters.

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I just wish we had nick saban. I’ll bet if we offered nick saban more money he’d leave that dirtbag town tuskaloosa in his dust and be our coach!!!!

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BAMA: Defense wraps up and tackles – no missed tackles.
UGA: Rambo tries for the “big hit”, fails to wrap up, misses tackle.

BAMA: Defense makes big play? They get up, get back to huddle.
UGA: Defense makes big play? They beat their chest, strut and prance.

BAMA: Ahead or behind, the sideline is all business.
UGA: Ahead or behind, the sideline is all smiles, dancing up and down!

BAMA: No reports of championship rings for sale on e-bay.
UGA: Ring-gate, and even Shreveport jerseys for sale.

BAMA: Player makes stupid play? Saban hands them a new a##, benches them.
UGA: Player makes stupid play? Richt looks kind of bored.

BAMA: Saban, 3 years, championship program.
UGA: Richt, 10 years, 9 and 9 in last 18.

BAMA: Recruits become, in one ESPN anaylists words “mini-Sabans”.
UGA: Recruits thugs, who stay thugs.

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“I don’t know what took us so long to get the ball fto AJ”.

That statement about wraps up what’s wrong with the program. I bet McGarity will be making a special trip back to Starkville, Miss again real soon.

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There was a key moment in the Colorado game when Colorado was 3 and 13 and in an obvious passing situation. At that point in the game Georgia appeared to be on the verge of taking control. I remember thinking, only half-joking, “don’t worry Colorado, you’re facing one of the dumbest teams in college football. They’ll find a way to mess it up.” Sure enough, we got some pressure and the play almost broke down but the quarterback stepped up in the pocket and lofted about a 20 yard pass to a wide open receiver on the left side. The reception wasn’t even contested. It was if Reshad Jones and Bryan Evans were still in coverage. The incompetence of the entire team is shocking, and it’s something that seems to carry over from year to year.

And unlike last season, we can’t even punt decently any more. But we have finally figured out how to boot the ball through the endzone. Go figure.

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well said Jeff! Georgia needs new leadership. if I have 10% hope that Georgia will be comparable to Bama or Florida under Richt I will say keep the guy but now I have absolutely 0.00% hope that could happen. hire Jim Harbaugh or kirby Smart

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Didn’t bother to read all the posts here today – no need to, I’ve heard ‘em before, dating back to those that wanted Dooley to take that Oklahoma job back in the late 60’s. Can’t tell you how many of my, true, Tech, Florida, Tenn, et.al., friends that have said to me how much respect they have for Mark Richt, and that doesn’t mean they think their team’ll beat us year after year, it’s about class, character AND ability. Unfortunately, the results have been lacking, but we’re all in this together and the attacks posted here, starting with Schultz and Bradley, only serve to make things worse…to bring out the selfish, the cynics, the hateful, those that ‘think’ they’re smart. Schultz and Bradley I can understand, their only dog in this fight is to see how many of the rabble they can rouse, but Georgia fans…true Georgia fans…that’s tough. Who knows what the real problem is…maybe it’s just that God’s either not a Georgia fan, or more likely that he’s just not into football in the first place.

I was one that thought Donnan deserved another year to ‘get it right’, and believe that Richt deserves as many years as he wants to do the same. Bradley and Schultz will be on to other scabs they can pick in order to keep their ‘hits’ up so they can bargain for a raise when their next contract comes due, but the real Georgia fans will be here making sure that the people that have to get the job done – coaches, players and administration – know that we’ve ‘got their back’. Anybody got a problem with that?

By the way Gators, with all this about Georgia, the Braves, etc., haven’t noticed anything about whether Urban’s had another ‘episode’…No?…well just wait, he’ll be ‘retired’ again by 1/11.

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So if this is our “one down year”, then what do you call last year? And the year before that? Not down years? Really? Some of you people are ridiculous.

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Everyone needs to just Chillax. Richt did not wake up this morning and forget how to coach. Georgia’s standard of excellence that everyone refers to was built by Richt over the last 10 years. The last ten years have been our best years with regards to the prestige of our program. Sure the bar is raised in the SEC over the passed 5 years, and Richt will meet the challenge. He has brought our program back as a top 10 program in the country after Dooley. Please don’t take the attitude of “what have you done for me lately”. How would you like it if your boss came in and said, “you have been an exemplary employee for 10 years, but this year, not very good….you are fired! Give the man an opportunity to figure it out. He is an unbelievable recruiter. He has picked the right man for the DC position, let him get it installed. The position coaches are the ones that have to coach up the players. One has to think that, he needs to look at those coaches on the offensive side of the ball as well. Adversity brings out the best in people, and he will get this straightened out. But it does not happen over night. He deserves the time to correct it. Plus, what coach out there that is available, is a sure thing better than Richt? Then you have the continuity problem with recruiting, etc that takes a while to overcome. If you change coaches, it always gets worse before it gets better. Please keep supporting CMR, for our recruiting sake.

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Thanks Mr ” THE SHAM” for firing us all up.
Go and tell our pu— players and coaches so we can
all hunker down. I buy tickets too and am not close
to getting my money’s worth.

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Jeff
stop giving Jason Hell or are you trying to work him for more hits on your BLOG. AHHAHAHA You are a smart man Jeff Schultz.

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I MEAN I LIKE HIS CHRISTAIN VALUES AND BY BEING CHRISTAIN IT DOESNT MEAN YOU SUPPOSE TO BE SOFTH DAVID WASNT SOFTH SAMPSON WASNT SOFTH BUT RICHT IS AND THATS CRAZY

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Tennessee = Loss Vandy = 60% uga win UK = Loss UF = Big loss Auburn = Embarrasing loss GT= Another Colorado game prob on the verge of beating the bugs but we will find a way to give them the win. My prediction 3-9 and the Richt stays one more year

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Don’t blame Richt, blame George Bush…..it seems to work for the lamestream national media and the Obamamites!

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Jeff,
Looks like UGA is a basketball school now. DO you know where we can learn to talk smack about basketball? Never done that before. Well except when Dominique Wilkins was at UGA.

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Jeff-

The 85%, comes from a survey your colleague Mark Bradley did, asking AJC readers who is to blame when players do dumb stuff. 85% agreed with me, it’s players fault, 15% agreed with you, it’s the coach’s fault. Doesn’t mean you’re wrong again, just means 85% of people think you’re wrong again and agree with me.

I don’t see any reason on earth mentioning a mission trip, in an article about the current state of Georgia football, has any kind of relevance. To me, it seemed like you were taking a shot at Richt’s spirituality and calling into question his priorities. I admire a coach who puts God first, family next, football way down the list—that kind of person is wise in my book. Why did you bring up a mission trip, I don’t see your point?

Here’s the link if you want to see the survey:
http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/2010/07/12/blame-mark-richt-hes-not-the-one-whos-embarrassing-uga/

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ELVISKL – quit giving your roommate a reach-around and go ahead and suck on it. BTW even as bad as we were last year we still beat Tech!

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It’d be hilarious if UGA hired Dooley the younger away from TN after the season…

Now THAT would be a story.

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Clearly this is a sad year, but it is also a defining year. I continue to be a CMR fan but it is time for him to step aside as the leader of this great football program. If CMR is allowed to remain as Head Coach then UGA has accepted mediocrity and willing to accept another loosing season in 2011.

CMR has done many great things for the University and has raised a boat load of money for UGA but now is the time for new leadership!

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Dooley is too smart to go to UGA with the dawg fans. If he doesn’t make it a UT then he will go to a small school. It would be like H Walker’s son going to UGA. Just too big of shoes to fill.

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another thing is they know saban is bending the rules when it comes scholarships and richt know deep down with the talent in this state its no excuss for pathtic season like we’re having this 2010 class in this state is one of the best in along time from the look of things we’re gonna miss out on more in state talent its crazy to me to let these @@#$%^ coaches come into this state and rack up on players doesnt make any sense

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Jeff,
Would not hurt you a bit to back down from your mission trip comments or at least clarify or give some sort of reason that you brought that up. It sounds like pure speculation at best and at worst it does sound like a swipe at Coach Richt. Coach and Mrs. Richt have sure elevated the program at UGA and are bright lights in the city of Athens. They have faced the adversity of cancer with courage. They have shown great love in the adoption of children and the challenges that brings. Those sorts of challenges are greater than UGA football…point being that CMR has shown us he can face adversity with courage and get through. If given the time he will also lead us through this brief drought. Not trying to give you a hard time Jeff but the comments you made do seem out of bounds and irrelevant.

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This season is very painful for UGA grads and true fans. Yes sir, it sure it. Haters, enjoy it. It is probably all that you have in your lives. Enjoy!!

The only sunlight in this all is that once the UGA administrators decide to dump them all, we will bring a new coaching staff in here and within two years …………….be challenging for the SEC East. Now in this same time period, ( write it on the wall ) Urban Meyer will bolt and possibly Sabin and Miles and Spurrier ……………as then the UP CYLCE repeats.

This is the way of the world. Up and Down cycles and how you manage them in between is how good your program will be over the long haul. Here is just one example. Who knew that only 21 months ago Obama would be so loathed by voters in 2010??? He is now in his DOWN cylce. See??

UGA is a facility rich school, fan base rich school, monetarily RICH school and …and …and UGA can recruit in one of the top states in the USA ……….Georgia. A solid, and HUNGRY TO WIN IT ALL COACH can come in here and do it all. Easy, easy to do.

Write it on the wall ……………..UGA will be on a UP CYLCE within two years. Aaron Muray will only be a junior and we will be fine.

Go Dogs.

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Ray, you’re making a great case in support of my university chaplain idea.

Anotther thing. Have you all noticed that Grantham was all animated and challenging the players the first game but he has been most mild mannered ever since? Do you think that da Preacha Man got on him and told him to be cool like Richt? If he did, that’s another good reason to fire him today.

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“I think the ‘mission trips to Honduras’ is pretty low.”

I’ve read several comments like this and honestly can’t figure out why this offends some of you. The point was obvious; Richt appears to have other priorities that might be distracting him from devoting all of his time and energy to Georgia football. His conference peers are some of the most driven, obsessive coaches in the business. It doesn’t matter if Richt’s outside passions are mission trips or professional poker tournaments, the point – and the result – is the same.

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I think our undisciplined previous AD has a lot to do with the problems we are having. It appears that he offered no support or reprimands for allowing the Fulmer Cup to appear in our trophy case. You people are correct it starts at the top and the top is the AD. Now McGarity better make sure that he 1) offers help and guidance to CMR regarding the off the field problems 2) a solution to the problems or 3) hold Richt accountable for these problems. Don’t give me the “he can’t watch them 24/7″ or “he isn’t their parents” or “kids will be kids”.

One of the reasons I have never been arrested is fear. Fear of having to face my father if I ever was. Fear of jail. Fear of the fines and record that I would have. Fear of losing things that I have worked hard for. Fear. One word, one concept, teachable too.

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Solve the off the field distractions and you have at least 75% better performance on the field.

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Good writers don’t put in one comment that spoils an otherwise good article. The Honduras reference was stupid.

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Word is out. Richt has one more year to turn it around regardless of how this year turns out. Lets all take a collective sigh and get off the fire Richt bandwagon. It is a waste of energy that could be used to support our team now that the decision to keep Richt has been made.

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Jeff-

I don’t see how doing some good for charitable purposes, such as Richt taking a mission trip, has a negative effect on his football team? I don’t get your point. And I don’t think many people would agree with your conclusion, your assumptions, or your line of reasoning.

Charity & altruism creates more energy than it consumes for the giver. There’s a lot of research on the positive benefits of altruism, the evidence is clearly in opposition to your theory.

You’re assuming we live in a scarce world, instead of an infinite world (time spent on mission trip = less time for football). In an infinite world, you can’t subtract, every act only adds (time spent on mission trip = more time for football).

Are you saying there’s not been a coach in any sport who takes mission trips, or even just college football, who’s won a National Championship in the same season? Have you heard of Jim Tressel or Bobby Bowden?

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Schutlz,

You wouldn’t know a good man or a good coach if you had your PHD in the subject.

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To all you dawg fans that is questioning coach Richt’s coaching, I to want to do the same thing but, then I get to thinking about all the good years we have had under him and so I know he still knows how to coach football. I to feel like pinching his head off sometimes but I am not giving up on him or this team. I drive about 6 to 7 hrs. to get to the game,and I will be everyweek if the GOOD LORD is willing and support this team. GO DAWGS……

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…or does McGarrity have to start looking now?

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Richt and Gailey could join forces and become televangelist.

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Not naming names (or monikers), but many of you are just plain nuts.

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The mission trip comments were on point. Everybody loves to give Richt a pass because he’s a great Christian. I’d take a coach that worshiped the devil and bit the heads off chickens every night if it meant we could win a national championship. Y’all need to keep your praying for Sundays. Saturdays are for winning…at any and all costs.

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just reporting, not flaming. Tom Dienhart, in his weakly live internet exchange, was asked if CMR would be a good fit for UNC if BD were let go (which will not happen). Tom replied that UNC could do better.

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Jeff,
Thanks for your comments. You are a fine writer–just thought the comments were out of line. Not trying to “shoot the messenger” as you responded to Ed–just want you to play fair and accurate. Man, I would hate to see us fire CMR. He has done so much for the program and is so much the face of UGA football. Like Vince when he was here. He had several bad seasons–but, he was Vince Dooley–can’t fire Vince. I think with Mark we have to look at the big picture, consider the ups and downs that are normal, give him the respect that he is due and he at least has earned another shot. Thats probably how this will go down. AD will ask Mark for a plan for the future, identify the issues etc and tell him he has one year to show significant progress. I can’t imagine him firing CMR–but hey–what do I know.

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Nothing like a good car wreck to back up traffic

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CrackDaddy.
UNC can do better for sure and B Davis is all but gone at UNC already. See the ACC schools care about that lil thing called ECUCATION. Student/athletes have to do their own class work and follow NCAA rules. B. Davis is on his way out for sure.

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Jeff, you lowered yourself to some of the bloggers by reference to Mark Richt’s mission trip. That comment was unnecessary.

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JB
I told then not to let Ealey drive the bus. He hits parked cars what makes richt think he can drive in traffic without wrecking.

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“The Bulldogs are no slower or weaker or smaller than their opponents.” With who we’ve played so far, I think that’s right. We’ve got power AND speed. (Not the likes of Florida or Alabama, who have outrecruited us, but enough to match most programs in the country.)

The DL is a little undersized. The OL seems a little slow or maybe just tired. But the main thing is our players just aren’t playing smart, disciplined, team football. Raw talent is not the issue.

I’m not sure how long a defensive transition should take. Would love to hear some coaches’ comments on that.

It’s almost like as a team we’re waiting for something good to happen. And when it does, like in the 2nd quarter against Colorado or the 4th against Arkansas, we’re not closing out.

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Jeff, good article but I think the whole program is getting very weak starting with the new AD, all he is wanting is more money with another home game, and weaker teams so our soft hitting arm tackling defense can look good. I believe we need to demand the coaching staff earns the salaries they are making by taking control and instill discipline on and off the field. I don’t think playing easier teams is going to make us a better team, we have to make adjustmnets in the game when the mistakes are happening, not the next week during practice whick I also beleve is soft and the players are showing that. I think it is time for all AD, coaches and players MAN UP and get us back to playing hard hitting aggressive Georgia Football. Go Dawgs

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Is VANDY home coming? Damn a Home Coming game at 12. Boy there will be a lot of still sober dawgs for both the Vols and Vandy games. That will be an odd occurrence in Athens.

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CMR should try the screen name i selected, i stated 5yrs ago
that CMR was soft and to nice, we have all played football for
someone (maybe ?) and if you feared anyone it was the headcoach
they put the faer of god in you did they not? so why isn’t
anyone afraid or respecting CMR because he doesn’t instill it
in them, does he care i don’t know, all i know is that we are
GEORGIA and we look like and play like we are northeastern
Montana St, i for one am sick of being the laughing stock of
the college football world, how do you get behind a product so
bad? we are talking about losing to Tenn, Auburn is gonna kill
us and GT might kill us too 4-8 not good. OK if we are not that
good, hard work and HARD PRACTICES will make us good? no not
if you are not feared or respected…SAD TO BE A BULLDAWG!!
I hated to say that

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About mission trips. I think they are great. Our church sends a group out every year. We even send a medical doctor along. Now, when he is out of town, his patients must see another doctor. Their needs are met, although some just choose to wait till he returns home. When CMR is out of town, who fills in for him? Huh? As head coach, who? Right, nobody. I daresay no one can make head coaching decisions when CMR is out of town. Plus, a mission trip takes a lot of time to get ready for, and to recover, after returning home. Shoot, in reality, a 3 week trip takes 5 weeks out of one’s time.

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I don’t doubt some at UNC want to be in the Football business, but the Chansellor at UNC will not let this scandle continue. B Davis had character issues at Miami too. I guess we will both see.

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Jeff……Do you think Mike Leach would be a good fit in Athens?

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Teddy said it best:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

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Mike Leach would bring UGa to the top! But will they stoop that low? Probably yes.

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Bama went through a similar situation with Mike Shula. Shula was brought in after the Mike (”I was too drunk to remember”) Price debacle mostly to help clean up the UA image with a secondary hope that he could be a good head coach, even though he had only been an assistant to that point. I think Shula and Richt both have character beyond reproach and were very good assistant coaches but Shula seemed to lack that certain intangible that makes someone a great head coach.

A lot has been said about Richt’s demeanor on the sidelines and that if he is not breathing fire every second that he cannot be a successful head coach. Granted, Nick Saban looked like someone whizzed in his Cheerios even though Bama was up 24-3 against Florida and he has certainly brought success back to the Capstone; but I also think people like Tom Landry, Don Shula and Jim Tressel have been able to produce championship results without having to reach a certain quota of smashed headsets per game. Therefore, it’s not just sideline demeanor that is the measuring stick of a great head coach.

With that said, an excellent article was written when rumors were swirling about Mike Shula being fired. I can’t remember the author or I would be glad to give credit, but the message was that the Bama AD needed to make a decision as to whether or not Mike Shula was the guy to lead Bama football back to the winning standards and if Shula wasn’t the man then they needed to cut bait and offer up the proper lure to get the big fish that would get the job done. I’m not going to state my opinion as to whether Richt should stay or go, but UGA just hired a very good AD and I think his first major decision at the end of the season is to make the determination that either Richt is the man to do the job or not. One of the determining factors would be for Richt to explain to McGarity his detailed plan to get UGA football back on track. If McGarity is satisfied with the plan then he needs to throw his full support behind Richt so that high school recruits have a sense of security about who will be in charge the next year. Now, if Richt is not the man, then it needs to be announced immediately after season end and before a bowl game if UGA qualifies for a bowl game this year. That way, McGarity can get his list of candidates together, raid the UGA Athletic Club coffers and reel in the big fish.

Dawg Nation may be divided in their opinion of Richt and like all passionate SEC football fans the blogs will continue to light up the rest of the season. I know it’s tough to do but Bama fans were in the same position a few years ago and my advice is that you have a competent AD so let him do his job after the season is over and the pendulum will eventually swing the other way.

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if he’s in HONDURAS who’s watching the ship? i get it

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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Chase Cain, Jeff Schultz. Jeff Schultz said: On the slide at #Georgia: It's becoming clear Mark Richt isn't commanding players' respect or attention. Read on: http://bit.ly/aLGot7 [...]

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Jeff, good article but I think you’re about 3-4 years late with this one. Their offseaon arrest record just about every year, if not every year he has been there, speaks for itself. The discipline needed in this program has been sorely lacking for years. Sitting a kid for the 1st half of a game because of a DUI arrest or underage alcohol possession may be acceptable to CMR but its embarrassing to me. I’m really curious if he even follows up on his players when they aren’t on the football field.

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I’m more upset with this clown A.D. we hired for ditching all the good OOC regular season games and scheduling little sisters of the poor instead. Where are the great road trips???

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O.k, so Richt is one “helluva” human being. I agree with that . But, he’s not getting paid over 2 million a year to be a “helluva human being”. He’s getting paid to be a ruthless “S.E.C HEAD FOOTBALL COACH”. That means having a disciplinary program that gets into the heads of those who don’t listen to him (including coordinators). I’ve said it once in these posts before: If you drop my football, you sit on my bench. If you cause 2 penalties, you sit on my bench and don’t start next game. If you get arrested, you don’t play on my team unltill and unless I decide I need you. Look at the great coaches of all time. They were “Gods” to their players and fans alike. CMR needs to give up “sainthood” and become a “God of the gridiron”.

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Best case scenario this season is 6-6.

How the hell are the Dawgs going to beat two of these three teams: Florida, Auburn, Tech?

That ain’t happening, so the Dawgs have to beat Tennessee, Vandy, Kentucky, Idaho State, and one of those.

5-7’s looking pretty good, but so is 4-8.

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No. Other students taking test for players I thought. You are right I maybe wrong. I just thought I remember that.

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Big time TECH fan here and I only saw about 4 plays from the game Saturday night but it told me a lot about where Ga. is right now. All 4 plays were in Colorado’s last possesion. On one Colorado ran a power play where the FB would kick out the DE. The FB didn’t have to work too hard to do that b/c the DE ran aound the block conceding the hole. I think it was the very next play and the defense strung the play out and the LB (38 I think) makes the tackle for a 1 yard loss and gets up like he just made the play to seal the national championship. I mean they’re going to lose and he’s strutting around. Personally I hope Georgia loses every game but it’s pretty easy to see there’s too many I’s on that team and not enough we’s. You may not want to admit it but the numerous arrests point to guys who think more of themselves than any thing else and are of weak character.

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Gdawgin
UGA and he SEC have a contract with ESPN and UGA will be playing on Thursday Nights for sure. Now that will be hard for Dawgs with job in Atl. They will have to leave around 3 just to make it to the game on time. There will not be time for much drinking I wouldn’t think.

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Don’t mean to beat up on you 5150, but maybe your naivete can be attributed to your youth. It appears that you may be very young and not widely read, else you wouldn’t confuse what is going on at UNC with what you thought went on at the U.

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The end to CMR might not materialize with wins and losses this year, but there is one thing that will…if recruits start de-committing before signing day. That will kill off the program faster than anything. Haven’t seen any yet, but have heard some rumblings to that effect.

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In short, will CMR ‘man up’ or ‘wimp out’?

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POAD’s comments about diversity, or the lack of it, at UGA differs from other SEC/ACC/Big 10 schools in what way? The athletes on virtually every major college football/basketball team will have a larger percentage of blacks than the student body at large. If you know of any exceptions please mention them. There are plenty of things to be critical of about the UGA football program right now, but this is not one of them considering the same situation exists at about 99% of other major athletic programs.

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They have to come out of that locker room wanting to hurt somebody for 4 quarters and never let up until the game is over. Blood make the grass grow. Tackle, block, assignment football, and so on. The dawgs are beating their selves.

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From what I can gather, UGA is sticking with Richt for at least one more year. Serious folks would not want to fire CMR. Why? He is young. He is experienced. He is talented. He has won big before. Who knows why the wheels are coming off this year. Lots of guesses but no one knows for sure. CMR will correct the problems. At end of year the AD will ask CMR to identify and address the problems and provide a road map for the future. CMR will have an excellent interview. The AD will then say, “Mark, we have to see significant improvement (meaning a 10 win season) or we are going to have to change directions.” Mark will respond, “Agree. I have always coached to win, will continue to coach to win and if we cannot turn it around then we will shake hands, part ways and wish one another the best.” CMR will turn the program around–with a little help from his friends. I think we will see significant improvement the rest of the year beginning with a blow out of Tennessee.

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Pls, leave LeMay to someone else. We already have Renner (elite 11 QB). and have commitments from Golson from SCar, and Marquise Williams, top QB in state of NC. LeMay would definitely have to compete to beat out those guys.

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While I can agree with many points in your well-written post, if you want to win SEC titles, much less NCs, you had better have a hefty number of 4 star players, with a sprinkling of 5 stars. I cannot think of a NC winner this decade (and I am guessing further back than that) that won it without them. Maybe someone can give an example.

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Top three problems:

1) Offensive line sux
2) D-backs suck
3) Bobo sux

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In recent years, we have seen:
1. Georgia players commit all kinds of senseless fouls at critical times during the game.
2. Georgia players in constant legal troubles.
3. Georgia players dancing and boogeying on the sidelines in the late 4th quarter of a game we’re losing.
4. Georgia players bowing up and shouting back and coaches who are correcting them.
5. Georgia players dancing and strutting on an opponent’s logo at midfield after it took a last-second field goal to beat Vanderbilt. (Yep…VANDERBILT.)

As a general rule, a team plays like it practices. And there is no discipline on this team, either on the field or off. And once a coach loses that, he can never get it back.

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There is a current SEC coach who was a college quarterback at a Florida university. He made a name for himself as a coordinator at an ACC school. He took over a struggling SEC program and had great success. However, there are indications that his passion might have waned in recent years and that he has outside interests that make it difficult for him to keep up with some of his famously obsessive conference counterparts Nick Saban and Urban Meyer.

I’m talking about Steve Spurrier, a golf junkie not known for his love of hitting the recruiting trail. Spurrier, like Richt, seems to be mired in mediocrity after enjoying an impressive run of success. Richt, like Spurrier, seems to have lost some of his fire. Like Spurrier, Richt is heading to a place where 8-5 seasons are the norm. All you need to know about Spurrier today is that he has been reduced to slinging barbs at another team’s assistant coach…after that coach held his offense to 17 points. In his UF days Spurrier used to shoot for 17 points in a quarter, now he hopes that his offense doesn’t screw up too bad while his defense wins the game for him.

Richt also was once thought of as an offensive guru, but that seems like eons ago. The only difference between him and Spurrier is that he doesn’t have a full decade or more of head coaching success to fall back on, but let’s face it, both are really glorified offensive coordinators.

Maybe if you take the “mission trips” out of the analysis and substitute it with “golf” or some other secular pursuit people will try to hear the intended message. The point – Richt’s head might not be fully into the game anymore – seems undeniable at this point.

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OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JEFF…………… WHY SOOOOOOOOOOOO HARD, even you seem to have jump off the band wagon. I agree that the players are not focus and it is the head coach job to ride the ship in the right direction. Never the less, I support CMR, I think the Def Coord. need to start what he started and jump into those players face, I didn’t see that this weekend nor at times did I see the players have a sense of urgency for four qtrs. I sat four rows behind ga bench this weekend, it runs deeper than x’s and o’s. You’re right the players need to fear the coaches and I wonder if CMR told the staff not to fuss or cuss at the players, only once did I see a coach get in the players face and that was coach Bobo and he had the offensive line on the bench after starting the 2nd half with a score, basically told them to “suck it up” for rest of the half. Coach RG pulled a couple of guys by the shoulder pads and coach G (DC) well I didn’t see that fire that was in him from game one, you wonder, most of the players were to much in K. Moreno face and dancing on the sideline rather than being with there position coach or team. I agree there need to be more focus and discipline, the players need to know if they screw up then punishment is coming. IF not then they know if they screw up then nothing will happen. I’m praying that all is well and loosing sometime can be good it bills charter and shows who really support the team. Goooooooooooooo Dawgs, I support CMR

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Richt needs to take Jesus’ playcalling duties away. This bible for a playbook thing ain’t working. Richt is the Mike Singletary of the SEC.

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No, really? It took a team of professional sports writes at the Constipation to finally figure out that CMR does not have what it takes to coach? Come on!!! You have to be kidding?

10 years of great talent and no titles, it can’t be CMR? No way!!! Athens has a great football, and a history of great athletic directors, who a busy with panties in their lap.

Give me a freakin break, this team has been an embarassmentto the state of Georgia since playing Penn State in 1982. A few SEC titles and everything is just fine in Athens/Sucksville.

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Phil Jackson’s too low key too.

And Tony Dungy.

And John Wooden.

They all need to wave their arms around and scream a lot like Saban, and then they’ll win more games than Richt.

What, Richt wins more games than Saban?

Oh well, so much for Jeff’s theory #1,000,321.

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Schultz and Bradley – welcome to the obvious, even if you are a little late arriving. King is still trying to sort it out.

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Look folks, it ain’t all CMR but more so with this arrogant booster and fan base. UGA fans too busy bragging about their program, that they are never realistic about their opponents. Vince Dooley would always play it down before the smallest of games, and make it seem like UGA only had a snowball’s chance when playing Vandy. Then UGA would drill them 55-0.

Now UGA goes popping off how good they, then get drilled by Vandy 55-0. Hello?

If CMR leaves and goes back to Miami as OC, and eventual head coach, then wins a title, what does that say about the UGA football program? Correct, it sucks from top down. There are larger issues with this program other than CMR, and you need to begin to cut Bobo politics in Athens and fnid an AD and head coach who can identify “real” talent, bring it in, then capitalize on it; otherwise, business as usual.

CMR is headed for Miami and part of his plan is to get fired, so he can move on. I am sure that Shannon is ready the the AJC and Athens Banner everyday to see what is going on to tap his next OC.

Athens is run by nothing more than a bunch of amateurs.

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Nick

If you weigh the success or failure of any program around 1 player, and make excuses for 1-4 based on the absence of 1 player, then you have proven that your program is a total failure.

Saban is 2-3 players deep on his playchart and that is what keeps his starters motivated, and the reason they play hurt.

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I saw ignorant young boys transformed into disciplined men in 10 weeks at Parris Island – me included. Most of them looked like freshmen Dawg recruits. It can happen in Athens with the right coaching team. I had a senior drill instructor who was the head coach and father figure (good cop) and two assistant drill instructors (bad cops) who kicked our butts from sun-up to sun-down. After three weeks on the island, I wondered if anyone in the outside world knew what abuse we were all going through. BUT by then I could do 50 legit push ups and run 3 solid miles every morning. Three weeks later, I could do 100 push ups and run 10 miles. I both feared and revered the DI’s – would follow them anywhere, walk through walls if I had to. These kids have the athletic talent, they just need discipline, a fearful respect for their leaders and high goals. I lived through the program and I was nowhere near the physical shape of these recruits. Richt needs to square away his program.

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Who remembers me? I’m one of the loyal doubters and posters this season… It’s awfully hard to have any good conversations with everyone in the state of Georgia with a computer posting fire Richt.

Bet you feel dumb now, don’t you?

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Meyer, Saban and Miles know how to win, while CMR finds a way to lose. These coaches are also great men in terms of their characters, they just bring a large level of intensity to the playing field, the go to church on Sunday.

Look go back to Van Gorder and look at the Won Loss record when he was DC. All these Dog fans are missing the point, it is about defense, not offense. Offense will win you games, a great defense will win you championships.

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Nick, since you made the comparison to John Wooden, let’s discuss. Bill Walton told Wooden that he wasn’t going to shave, which was team policy. Walton was the most coveted player in the country and knew that he could transfer to his pick of schools. Wooden told Walton that he would miss him and wished him luck in his future endeavors. Walton decided that shaving wasn’t such a bad idea after all. He cried at Wooden’s funeral.

Contrast that to Richt, who tolerates dreadlocks, facial hair, sideline dancing, petty criminal behavior, repeated mental errors and penalties, and a mass endzone celebration. As we found out beginning in ‘07, players can even pick the uniforms now.

Big difference.

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Jeff says Georgia isn’t getting better. Is this true or false?

Not getting better?
1- 2 weeks ago, team scored 6 points, this week 27.
2- 2 weeks ago, no 100 yard rusher on offense, this week Caleb gets 100
3- 2 weeks ago, no big returns on punt or kicks, this week, both worked well
4- 2 weeks ago, offense couldn’t drive ball past 50 at end of game, this week, drove ball to 25 to set up potential game winning field goal attempt
5- 2 weeks ago, te’s didn’t get thrown to much, this week, several successful plays with te’s

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Better get on the right track before Jacksonville because Urban will put up 70 if he can. He still hasn’t forgotten the team endzone dance.

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Is Richt a better coach than Saban? Depends on how you measure success.

Top 10 finishes–Richt
4 Consecutive top 10 finishes–Richt
Most players in NFL right now–Richt
Top 3 finish in polls–tied at 2 each
Career Winning %–Richt
Bowl record–Richt
No Seasons with less than 8 wins–Richt

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Nick

2 National Titles – Saban
No National Titles – CMR

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Nick, stats do not mean sh$%, titles do.

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Is Georgia defense not getting better? Is Jeff right or wrong?

Defense better statistically than last year’s average in;
Scoring
Yards
Rush defense
Pass defense
Forced turnovers

Georgia’s defense has improved, any way you measure, Georgia is getting better on defense.

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Enter your comments hereJeff about the discipline ( or lack of ) If you take the person who commits the first stupid mistake and the teams sees what this guy has to go through that tells them something right? If he goes through pure hell an example is set. If he does not then an example is also set, right?

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WHY YOU LITTLE BITTIE CRY BABIES! WE’VE (or rather past gt coaches) have been going thru these things for decades. BUT I’M HERE NOW…..

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If it’s all about hiring a really neat personality that everybody likes as head coach at UGA, may I suggest Larry the Cable Guy! Now that there’s funny – I don’t care who you are.

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They need to get Meat Cleaver, Terry Hoage, Frank Ros and Herschel in a room with these guys and do a Scared Straight routine on this team. They need to be re-familiarized with the sort of intensity required of winning football teams.

Another thing, if our safeties are going to be out of position anyway, put Tree in there. At least we know he’ll come with some bad intentions. They need to learn to like to hit people. Hit them late. Hit them early. I don’t care. Just hit somebody really hard, and do it like you like it. We wouldn’t even make a tough basketball team the way these guys play. Maybe we should send them over to the soccer team.

Finally, I can understand the “stay the course” mentality, but they need to send a message to some guys who aren’t producing and replace them with guys who want to play hard. They need to emphasize desire over mistakes. If they send the message that its more important to play hard than perfect then maybe we can get out of this malaise were in.

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UGA needs to keep doing what they are doing and extend CMR’s contract. According to Nick’s statistics, UGA is getting better everyday. So what is the problem?

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The bottom line here is money plain and $imple. You can hoot and holler and call for Richt to be fired, but UGA owes him millions of dollars so he isn’t going anywhere. Get used to losing this season, and forget about playing in a decent bowl game (or any bowl game really). UGA is going to get blasted by Florida and Auburn, and they’ll probably drop another game to Tennessee, GA Tech, and/or Kentucky. Hunker down puppies and focus on the positive….at least your women’s gymnastics team is still solid.

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Keep getting better every week until your seniors leave and you can begin rebuilding again.

UGA football- rebuilding since 1980.

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Sam Robards, Kool Aid Salesman. And obviously a drinker too.

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Notice the Falcons game on Sunday, Van Gorder held San Fran to 14 points, so he did his job, then it was up to the offense.

You should have known this program was tanked when Kirby Smart did not come home. He can learn alot more from Saban than CMR, and Muschamp pretty much said the same thing…middle finger.

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Quiet now—don’t be bothering mark with this coaching change talk. He’s working on a new endzone taunting dance for his players in the florida game (if they score!) It could be great, new and entertaining. Mark’s a thinker baby—a motivator!

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Father Flanagan touched me down there

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I heard that Kirby Smart’s wife is in town meeting with a realtor. Hopefully, she finds some good deals on depressed athens mansions.

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UGA alumn from 2000…I’m still with Richt. Who we gonna get that’s better?

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i have a question for us dawg fans…… do you still want caleb king as your running back?? king had 4 fumbles last year alone. the costly one last saturday… how many more fumbles or missed protections does he have to have before you guys wake up and see that he is a bum??

do you still want him as your running back?

i dont.

V. cuff should be kicked off the team for conduct detrimental to the team.

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It was bad enough being stuck watching my Dawgs lose with a horrible Big 12 Fox Sports crew doing the homer commentating, but I did get a little laugh at the end. I couldn’t decide which was funnier: The fans storming the field like they had just beaten an 11-0 team; or, their coach talking about beating such a “great” UGA team. You would have thought he just knocked off Alabama, without giving any mention to the numerous gifts the Dawgs gave him to boot. Both were pretty much classics.

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“Now this is how you treat the greatest coach in the history of your program.”
**************************************************
Legendary Treatment, you probably think Tiger Woods is the “greatest” golfer in history, too.

How old are you, 25?

Vince Dooley won 6 SEC Titles (yes 6, with yesterdays Saban, Bear Bryant at Bama), and 1 UNDESPUTED National Championship, while being in contention for 3 others. His record also includes 3 unbeaten regular season records, and 6 one-loss teams.

I am a Richt supporter, but UGA had a great football history before him.

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Bobby-

Hawkins is entrenched and in about as hot a seat as they come. Of course he’s going to complement Georgia as a good team- makes his victory seem like an actual accomplishment.

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@5150 P.O.A.D….just curious, if you hate the dawgs so much why are you always on their blogs? Who is your school and don’t they have a blog where you can go to?

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Zell I don’t usually do REAL work on Monday’s. Having my own business lets me do that. It is fun to chat back and forth. I do have the computer on most days all day. So I like to read the blogs.

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I’m don’t agree w/ everything, but there are some valid points here..

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Gotta love “small” fellers whose program gets beaten like a drum by their rival, so they resort to using posting names of teams who actually have success against that team.

They can’t help their little stingers can’t do much for them, so they try to grow a bigger stinger by calling themselves anything, but what they really are, little bitty techies . . .

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82Dawg
There are UGA fans and this was a JEFF SCHULTZ BLOG not a UGA blog. I do talk on the Tech blog. There are not as many people posting because Tech people don’t comment much on the Liberal AJC blogs unless it is a game blog.

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You dumba$$ posters who say UGA recruits thugs are morons. If UGA didn’t sign these players every other SEC team would. Get a clue before you post.

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Hire Mike Leach and build him a really big shed.

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5150 – my comment was aimed directly at you. You are an idiot and know nothing about college football and likely nothing else. At least post something that has an intellectual thought or STFU.

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Georgia has gone from 2009 and giving up 67 yards a game in penalities, to 40 yards a game in 2010.

Georgia went from a -16 TO margin in 2009, to a -1 TO margin in 2010.

These are MASSIVE imporvements.

The players are respecting, listening, and paying attention to Mark Richt, MUCH better than last year, despite the false writings on this blog.

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5150 P.O.A.D …you are right it is a JS blog, but about UGA… I know you are not saying that UGA is more liberal than tech are you??? LOL!!

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jackets. . .have some class or STFU

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@idiots………again……………… DUH? really? it has been all over ESPN that yall have had 10 players arrested this year………… all i heard about florida was that they had 1….its not because we live here

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funny, Tech people on here enjoying UGA’s losses. How about your team?? At least some tech fans with class admit we are both suffering. however, some of you have no class.

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my take on the arrests: The Athens police are on steriods they get a stiffy when they arrest people..(kinda like Cobb County) they are over zealous….we need the cops in Athens to be like the cops in Alabama and Columbia, SC….I guess the Athens cops don’t like football..???

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hey “idiots”…….why dont u have the class to make a real name instead of basically calling urself an idiot?

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Coach, I want to know how you intend to pay our mortgage on our beautiful Lake Oconee home next year?

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82Dawg
NO just that TECH people don’t post on here much on the TECH pages. I know Tech fans talk on the UGA topics because they are picking fun or trying to make some point. If a UGA person is on the Tech Blog it is usually just to say NERD get out of your mom’s basement and that kind of stuff. On the UGA topics there is actually some comments thet are funny and interesting.

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As though it’s any mystery to anyone on here that every UGA basher on this blog is actually a wothless jacket. Bama, Auburn and Gator fans actually have more on their plate to deal with and winning seasons to focus on. Come on guys, do you really not have anything better to do? Shouldn’t you be concerned with your “Heisman” contender? LOL!!!

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Offense getting better?

Passing yards per game UP by 25 yards.
Total offensive yards UP by 25 yards.

Offensive scoring down by 4 points, rushing down by 20 yards a game.

Offensive Giveaways MUCH BETTER.

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Man did you hit the nail on the head Schultz. The players are ignoring Richt and likely the other coaches as well. This is very obvious. I am so sick of hearing about Bobo this and Bobo that, the bucks stops with Richt. Football is a simple game that must be played with passion, toughness and resilience. Georgia has none of those qualities for some time now, this is a reflection of the head coach.

Dobbs quote was quite telling to me when he stated they cannot quit. Oh really, looks like they did some time ago. Besides Murray, Durham and Champus on offense, and Dent, Robinson and Houston on defense, do you feel the rest of the team is giving 100%? Do you see improvement on the field? Do you see improvement with the players attitudes? Do you see improvement with behavior on and off the field? None of us do, so we continue to slide.

Few more questions, ever work for someone you don’t respect? Ever worked for someone with little passion or interest in what they do? Did you feel like you could give 100% to this sort of employer? Of course not, this is what is happening at UGA. The players have picked up on this and they loaf on the field, and provide us some great tomfoolery of the field. Often times when this occurs to football teams, drugs are involved. Likely loads of pot smokers on this team. No surprise if many of them show up for games stoned. The players just don’t care.

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Idiots we was arrested for a felony but like everybody knows INNOCENT until proven Guilty. He has not been to court yet. Now, at Tech with Johnson Tarrant had to sit a whole year on felony charges. The charges were dropped but Tarrant did sit a whole year. The Fl player is just like you or me out on bail. He can play until the facts are proven in court.

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a couple? way more than that under meyer. seriously look it up. I agree with you. It is stupid what is going on. MY ONE AND ONLY POINT: we all recruit the same players!!! that is all.

and yes, no one cares about florida arrests b/c they WIN!!!!

at least we can agree on the braves!

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THATS ANOTHER POINT!!! UGA HAS A TOP TEN RECRUITING CLASS EVERY YEAR!!!!! HECK! YALL SHOULD BE NATIONAL CHAMPS! NOT BEGGING TO BE BOWL ELIGIBLE!! COLORADO??? MISS ST????? SC????? ARKANSAS???? NONE OF THESE HAVE TOP TEN RECRUITING CLASSES!!!! TECH HAS N.O.T.H.I.N.G. AND MANAGES TO COMPETE IN FOOTBALL!!

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my point is that uga recruiting is amazing….. yalll should be national contenders! tech is given NOTHING to work with and COMPETES

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Jeff-

Please explain to these Tech fans that we all recruit the same players. So they are going to tell me that AJ Green is a thug and Tech would not have signed him?? Give me a break. There is a breakdown going on in Athens, agreed. My point is that it is not b/c of who we recruit!!!

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i cannot believe you people that want to keep richt his tyme has passed,after the miss st game the WHOLE staff should have been given the chance to resign .and if they choose not to then fired on the spot.that said .uga cant get any lower what we need is to be like bama hire/buy a coach that already has a nat championship.it isnt like uga is looking under dawghouses for money listen people cause this is important as long as u keep buying items with that ‘g’ on it and filling up sanford stadium on sat nothing is gonna change you have got to hit uga in the wallet if you want change i wished no one showed up to sat games but tenn fans they will win anyway oh yea and it would really help to stop recruiting thugs an get some people disipline morals an values

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Sad to say, I agree. I am still hopeful, however, that these guys can make something happen with this team. Maybe it’s time to let it all go. I don’t know. I’ll still watch every Saturday and pull for the Dawgs!

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@ SadDawg

My grandmother could of won a national championship with Herschel Walker in the backfield. The greatest running back ever to play the game will do glorious things for a team.

You’re right though. Dooley did great in the early 80’s. You can thank Miss St. for that 80 championship too (I’m old enough to remember how y’all slide into the Sugar Bowl).

Just sayin’. CMR put Georgia on the map after 20 years of being irrelevant. Y’all had swagger until the Blackout.

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There is absolutely nothing positive to add to this year about UGA coaching, and I’ve been a dawg fan since the day I was born. I think Richt needs to try to stop fixing things three years after they have started and fix a minor issue when they occur. Take all these arrests, if Richt had kicked the first player to get arrested off the team, was strict and instilled fear in the other players. We would never have had this issue. Richt is lacking a passion for the game, or at least a visible one. Jakar Hamilton he had 3 personal fouls in one game yet do you see Richt getting angry and pulling Hamilton from the game. The other players would have respected Richt. Or if Richt had gotten angry at a couple of those bad penalty calls by the (awful) refs in the Colorado games maybe his players would have wanted him to WIN for him. I’m not asking for anger, I’m just asking for some passion!

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Bobby, you are wrong.
The announcers were not homers; maybe you are the homer.
The announcers were very complimentary and knowledgeable of Ga. and Colo.
You sound like a typical fan cutting down the commentators.

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5150 – ok, so you now agree it is NOT uga recruiting thugs. the issue is we have a discipline problem. all we can do is hope the dismissal of the player for dui is a the beginning of the end of this crap.

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Agree with those who say if UGA fires CMR we are set back 10 years and look a lot like SMU. So, UGA stay with CMR and he will never allow us to become SMU. Richt is the man. Look at the picture with an unbiased mind. Hopefully our AD is not foolish enough to fire one of the most successful coaches in UGA history. The AJC bloggers seem to be piling on CMR. All in unison today.

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Nick Wake up and come back to the real world. UGA is unproductive this year. Yes were getting better this year but look at the past. Richt has become to comfortable.

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The Dream Team has a new slogan. FINISH GETTING DRILLED!!!!!! Pass me one of them Krispi Kremes!!

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I agree w/ what Gordon said…may you RIP

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Our graduation rate for football players is 46%. For basketball players it is 17%. We hire an AD, he gets pulled over for DUI. Mr. Adams has done a terrible job as president of UGA. He interfered with Vince Dooley and forced him to resign. I think UGA needs to expect enough discipline to at least graduate 70% of our ball players. Academic discipline will help with motivation. Having separate dorms and exclusive dining halls for athletes are part of the problem. The athletes feel they are hired to play ball and have little emotional bond with the university. UGA has become a factory.
I think we need to hang on to Richt for 5 more years, see how things go until 2015. We can fire Richt and end up like Michigan or Tennesssee, losing 2-3 years of progress. Or we can go for continuity and let Richt know ahead of time we will not renew his contract. In the meantime, we can be looking for a coach.
If you dump Richt in the middle of a contract, you end up paying through the nose for the old coach and the new coach at the same time. That is our money being spent.
I would like to see Michael Adams being replaced first. Georgia has lost some of its academic luster the last 5 years.

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Nick are you getting people on M Bradley’s blog to agree with you? It seems people on Schultz’s blog are not buying your argument.

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idiots
I don’t think the punishment fits the crime for sure, but there is weird crap when the coaches punish some players one way and other players another. I was not talking about Ealey and the hit-n-run. They was a situation with him and a teacher in a “Physical” confrontation. It was ruled buy ECI to be a non-event, but the teacher did say they were afraid when it happened. I am not picking on Ealey. Hell while at military high School I wanted to hit a few of my teachers too. AHHAHAHAHA.

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Jeff… how ’bout a “Who would Georgia look at for new h.c.” article. Kevin Sumlin from Univ. of Houston gets my vote. Don’t forget, he was at Oklahoma when they were in the top 2 every year.

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Jeff wrote a pretty big statement: “Richt’s job should be in jeopardy. Why? Because not only are the Bulldogs not very good, but there is no sign that they are getting better.” No sign Georgia is Getting Better? None. Are you looking for signs of improvements or just negatively biased? I’ve seen over a dozen ways Georgia has gotten better than alst year. I don’t know what team Jeff’s been covering, but by virtually any fair or objective standard, Georgia’s not getting better, Georgia is getting markedly better.

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Richt’s coaching has been suspect for years. How many years in a row has he allowed his teams to be amongst the most penalized in the nation? (Oh, and I’m talking ON THE FIELD penalties, not the number of criminals and future felons he recruits.)

I mean, how committed are you to your job when you let something OBVIOUS go like penalties, year in and year out? Watch other SEC teams – yes, they commit fouls, but not nearly as numerous as those at UGA. It’s incomprehensible that Richt, if he gives a ****, wouldn’t crack heads to change it. My guess – he’s over it. He’s ready for a big fat payout and not have to deal with the incredible demands of being an SEC head coach.

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Jeff, once again you are way off base like many of the so called Georgia fans. I’ve been a Georgia fan for longer than you’ve been breathing. I’ve watched seasons come and go, it’s not life and death….it’s smashed mouth SEC football and currently we are getting our behinds handed to us. Coach Richt is an excellent football coach and an even better leader and man of character. We would be foolish to fire him. Most of these ignorant so called Georgia fans would have fired Bob Stoopes last year and last time I checked Oklahoma was doing pretty well this year. You guys need to lighten up and support the young men and their coaches.
Again this is college football, played by 18 and 19 year old kids that don’t do everything right every time…………give em some time

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5150, PLEASE GET OFF!!!!! Don’t you have a job or something to do???????
You must need attention from everyone.
GOOOOOOOO, Dawgs!!!!

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Jeff is right about everything………except one. This job—-being an SEC head football coach—–requires a totally dedicated driven workaholic with no room in his life for anything except football. And it’s just because of his record that we should let Coach finish the season and then move on to what most matters to him. I don’t often read the Sports pages, but when I do…..I read Schultz. How bout them Dawgs.

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Jeff’s definition of success? Wins and losses. See recent comments on this blog. John Wooden’s definition? Getting better, has nothing to do with wins and losses. By Wooden’s definition, a guy with real world practical collegiate level head coaching experience, Richt’s getting better, and successful this season.

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There’s 2 kinds of people in this world, doers, and theorist. Richt’s a doer, writers? well, they like to pontificate and type up words. But they never DO anything. Talk, talk, talk.

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The Nevada staff might be one to look at too.

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Losing four out of five is BAD, real bad. But it’s not the big disgrace that everybody is whining that it is. The REAL disgrace is 10 ARRESTS!
These guys were supposed to be role models, icons. Who’s the team disciplinarian? I say give the job to a Muslim. Don’t jail ‘em, just kill ‘em.

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Well, you could start with the mind-numbing Philosophy 101 postings form around 3:00 to 4:00 pm.

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I love our Dawgs. Let’s not forget all of the good things that Coach Richt has accomplished. Just like everyone else in the bulldawg nation, I want our dawgs to compete every year. The fact is that we are not competing. I think the AD has some tough choices ahead. I’m not ready to throw our coach to the side of the road.

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Watching a replay of the UGA/UC game, my husband pointed out something on the Dawg sidelines. CMR was talking to #50 and the player WALKED AWAY! CMR walked after the player, spoke to him again, and, again, the player walked away. My husband pointed to that episode and said “That sums up the problems at Georgia. The players don’t fear Richt or respect him”.

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Right you are Jeff…unfortunately have a lot fans living in the past not the present….at $3mill plus per year, you should be on a short leash, perform or you’re out…can’t sit on your laurels. Mark never realized the intensity brought to the other programs in the SEC when they upgraded…same mistakes made by the ousted coaches at Tenn and Auburn. Mark should have been paying attention but caught up in his success at what had ocurred the first few years, and never had a clue as to what was happening around the league. Do you think Urban or Saban go to church on Sunday after games or are already studying their next opponent?

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This article is in the Twilight Zone.

You guys know Georgia has improved in turnovers and penalities and Richt’s been on his team about those 2 since Jan? I checked.

Turnover margin is down by 1600% from last year. 1600%!!!!

Penalties are down from over 8 a game, and about 70 yards a game, to close to 6 a game, and about 40 yards a game. Up almost 30%!!!